Big Dogs Weblog

Selective Memo Release Is Political In Nature

by Big Dog on Apr 24, 2009 at 05:45 Political

Despite the assertions of Attorney General Eric Holder that the Administration will not selectively release “torture” memos for political reasons it appears as if that is exactly what was done. Barack Obama released the memos that laid out the legal opinion of advanced interrogation techniques. The left is going nuts claiming they show that the US tortured terrorists and there is belief that the attorneys who gave the legal opinion could be investigated for doing their jobs. The memos were released to start the witch hunt. Democrats are already salivating over the chance to go after the people from the Bush Administration who were involved in this.

The reality is that the memos show the Bush Administration went to great lengths to ensure that the law was followed. The legal opinion is clearly well researched and is rendered in accordance with the laws Congress passed. The kicker is that many Democrats including Nancy Pelosi were briefed and knew about all this and they did not raise objections. Word is that Pelosi wanted the CIA to do more. She is denying this but the evidence is mounting against her denials.

In my opinion the only harm that will come from the release is that our enemies will know what our techniques are and what they are designed to do. This makes it easier for them to train to resist them. As for the legal part, the memos show compliance.

Former VP Dick Cheney said the rest of the memos that show the success of the program should be released. Obama pooh poohed that idea and Holder says he does not know where the memos are. He said other agencies probably have them.

Ask Obama where they are. I am sure he can find them since he found the ones he selectively released. If he is truly transparent and if they will not release memos selectively for political purposes then the balance of the memos should be released to give the public the full picture of what the legal opinion was, when and how the techniques were used and what the results were.

Obama’s national intelligence director, Dennis Blair, sent a memo around the intelligence community that stated:

“From 2002 through 2006 when the use of these techniques ended,” Blair wrote, “the leadership of the CIA repeatedly reported their activities both to Executive Branch policymakers and to members of Congress, and received permission to continue to use the techniques.” NewsMax

Congress continually approved it but now wants blood.

The unfortunate reality is that the Administration is selectively releasing these to try and do harm to Bush and to lay the groundwork for prosecutions. They are playing political games with our national security.

The Obama definition of transparency, something he promised, is that he will release what, and only what, he wants you to see. Case in point, his birth certificate. No transparency there. His lawyers are sending threatening letters to those suing to have it released. Why do you suppose that is?

If he wanted to prove he was transparent that would have been the first document released. Funny, his birth certificate is guarded better than the Top Secret memos on interrogation techniques which he had no problem releasing to the public.

This is not change you can believe in.

The Wall Street Journal says this will haunt Obama.

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Tags: CIA, classified memos, holder, interrogation, Obama, torture